YouTube, MySpace being cut off for many

GreatAmerican

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http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_websitesblocked_070514/

Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Defense Department policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect Monday.

The Defense Department will begin blocking access “worldwide” to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander....
 
Probably the right thing to do in the end. DOD networks are for "official" use anyway and I highly doubt there was much "official" business going on in those sites. I can understand the frustration though as there have been several times I've been stuck waiting for meetings and the like and the only computers/network I have access to is the one at work.
 
Youtube has been blocked for half ac year at USAFA.

The admin said they were going to block myspace, but never actually did.
 
True that but USCG uses .mil in some of their sites which is a DOD extension.
 
Military Says Bandwidth Alone Forced Web-Site Blocking

Published in the Washington Compost:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702177.html?hpid=sec-tech

In a room where reporters are regularly briefed about military victories and setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the discussion yesterday afternoon focused on megabits, uploads and the bandwidth constraints created by music downloads and streaming video.

The Defense Department, which announced Monday that it was blocking access on its networks to such popular Web sites as MySpace and YouTube, put a technology official under the spotlight to explain why bandwidth -- the available space on a computer network for transferring data -- is something that the military cannot afford to compromise....
 
That is very interesting. I wonder if it's b/c they dont want videos of people getting killed , ect on the internet...
 
Not really, its mainly because the network chatter/bandwidth that is being used up to upload pictures and talking to friends can be better used in fighting a war.

Now I wonder, if the need ever arises in a major war would the U.S. government limit civilian usage of the internet and telecommunications equipment?
 
Remember the internet was originally set up for military communication during wartime.
 
No! The internet was originally created by Al Gore to share noodie pictures and videos to his friends at other Ivy league schools
 
I had a feeling Al would come up in this thread.:shake:


Eventually, in July 1975, the network had been turned over to the Defense Communications Agency, also part of the Department of Defense. In 1983, the U.S. military portion of the ARPANET was broken off as a separate network, the MILNET.

The networks based around the ARPANET were government funded and therefore restricted to noncommercial uses such as research; unrelated commercial use was strictly forbidden. This initially restricted connections to military sites and universities. During the 1980s, the connections expanded to more educational institutions, and even to a growing number of companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation and Hewlett-Packard, which were participating in research projects or providing services to those who were.
 
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YouTube doubts Pentagon explanation for blocking sites

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_youtube_military_070518/

YouTube’s co-founders on Thursday challenged the Pentagon’s assertion that soldiers overseas were sapping too much bandwidth by watching online videos, the military’s principal rationale for blocking popular Web sites from Defense Department computers.

“They said it might be a bandwidth issue, but they created the Internet, so I don’t know what the problem is,” CEO Chad Hurley said with a hearty laugh during an interview with The Associated Press....
 
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